# Magic Chef Wine Cooler-???



## blackrabbit (Jan 29, 2017)

Magic Chef 50-Bottle Wine Cooler, Stainless Door-MCWC50DST - The Home Depot

I have an opportunity to pick one of these up locally for a little over 100 bucks. It is in excellent condition. I saw that it goes up to 64 degrees which seems ideal when the hot summer months come. Does anyone know if this would make a good humidor? Seems like it has a ton of room and it would take me a long time to fill it but I am excited at the opportunity. Any information or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!!


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## Bird-Dog (Oct 16, 2009)

blackrabbit said:


> Magic Chef 50-Bottle Wine Cooler, Stainless Door-MCWC50DST - The Home Depot
> 
> I have an opportunity to pick one of these up locally for a little over 100 bucks. It is in excellent condition. I saw that it goes up to 64 degrees which seems ideal when the hot summer months come. Does anyone know if this would make a good humidor? Seems like it has a ton of room and it would take me a long time to fill it but I am excited at the opportunity. Any information or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!!


A couple of possible problems. I could not find any mention of whether it is themo-electric or compressor driven. But one reviewer mentioned it being a little loud. Another said theirs quit cooling as it was diagnosed as a leak in a sealed system part. Both of which lead me to believe it's compressor. Not good for cigars.

Also, another reviewer said the shelves do not slide out. I'm puzzled by that, but if true you may have a hard time fitting drawers and/or shelves for cigars.

Over all, not enough info to be sure or not. But, based on what little I picked up skimming the reviews, I'm saying it's a no-go. YMMV


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## Rondo (Sep 9, 2015)

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/magic-chef-wine-cooler.html


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## blackrabbit (Jan 29, 2017)

Thank you gentlemen. I think I will skip that one based on the consumer affairs complaints. It would suck to have it crap out on me after a few months. I wanted to build cedar shelves for it as well and that would be terrible if I did all the work and have it stop working.

So if I find a better one I am looking for a non compressor model. What would one with a compressor do to the cigars? Would it be impossible to keep the humidity high enough for them with a compressor model?


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## scott1256ca (Jan 4, 2017)

That page you linked actually did say it was compressor.


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## Lucifer Morningstar (Jan 13, 2017)

blackrabbit said:


> So if I find a better one I am looking for a non compressor model. What would one with a compressor do to the cigars? Would it be impossible to keep the humidity high enough for them with a compressor model?


Some people have had decent luck with compressor models. Basically what a compressor does is it sucks the humidity out - more so than thermoelectric, meaning it would be very hard to keep a consistent enough humidity level. I won't say it's impossible - it's just difficult.

The main brands for conversion are the NewAirs, Whynter and Vinotemp.
I can't say which models because I'm in Australia, thus have no idea.

Go for Thermoelectric if you can. NewAir has decent prices on Amazon, as does Whynter.


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## blackrabbit (Jan 29, 2017)

Thanks for the responses. I am going to keep my out for used humidors/wine coolers on craigslist as I still have a few months till it starts getting hot around here. If I can't find a good deal I will probably pony up the cash for a new one.


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## Rondo (Sep 9, 2015)

If you love your cigars, you'll get a new one, with a warranty.
Anything on CL isn't there for you to get the deal of a lifetime.
If you grow further into this world, you'll see it never pays to go on the cheap whether it's storage, accessories or the sticks themselves.


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## blackrabbit (Jan 29, 2017)

You are probably right as with most things buying quality usually saves you money in the long run and high quality goods usually have a good resale value if you want to get rid of them. I probably will just get a humidor that has the built in cooling function. Maybe I should just buy this...

https://www.amazon.com/Whynter-CHC-251S-Stainless-Cooler-Humidor/dp/B00KO90H6Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487172000&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=humidor&psc=1


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## Bird-Dog (Oct 16, 2009)

blackrabbit said:


> You are probably right as with most things buying quality usually saves you money in the long run and high quality goods usually have a good resale value if you want to get rid of them. I probably will just get a humidor that has the built in cooling function. Maybe I should just buy this...
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Whynter-CHC-...487172000&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=humidor&psc=1


Yep, that's a very good price for a full-size Whynter. They usually run about $400,


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## MidwestToker (Sep 14, 2016)

If you keep your cigars in air-tight Tupperware, would the compressor/thermo issue matter?

My house doesn't have central air, so my wine cooler is a must in the summer. (It's a thermo, I'm just asking out of curiosity).


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## Bird-Dog (Oct 16, 2009)

MidwestToker said:


> If you keep your cigars in air-tight Tupperware, would the compressor/thermo issue matter?
> 
> My house doesn't have central air, so my wine cooler is a must in the summer. (It's a thermo, I'm just asking out of curiosity).


That would work okay.


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## blackrabbit (Jan 29, 2017)

Well I decided to cheap out for now, as this is the first year I am really getting into cigars and I already have spent a lot on sticks and other stuff. I will add something larger next year most likely. I found this very good condition wine cooler on craigslist and bought it for 40 bucks. It is only a six bottle one but is not the compressor type, seems efficient with a nice double pane glass on the door, and has a light for the inside. One boveda pack and a dish of humidity crystals in there and the humidity is good even being empty. When it gets hot here I will put most of my cigars in the bunker where it stays cool and keep my smoking/sharing sticks in this winador in the house for easy access. I am exploring ideas for a couple cedar shelves for it. I think it will work well for me this summer.


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## scott1256ca (Jan 4, 2017)

Run the cooler on minimum temp. for a couple of days. See if the temp runs steady and what it runs at. Best to try this in a room where the temp varies night/day. Hopefully the cooler won't change internal temp when the external temp changes. After a couple of days sneak the temp control down a bit, and see if it actually drops. Give it a few hours and see. Then try again. See what you are up against, since it doesn't have a digital display. When you get it to where you want, i.e. 65 degrees or so??? then unplug, let it warm up and plug in again without adjusting the temp. You might find that it doesn't go back to where it was before you unplugged. If it does, good for you. If not, welcome to the club 
If I adjust the temp controller in mine just a tad, the temp doesn't seem to change. If I adjust a fair amount, it seems to change, but if I do that first part a couple of times, it doesn't seem to reset to where I left it.
Provided I don't have a power failure, I'm fine. Even if I do, it doesn't screw up that much. 
Also, even though that isn't large, check humidity at the top and bottom when you get some stuff in there. Doesn't have to be cigars. In fact, maybe best it doesn't have cigars until you are comfortable with it. You might find you need a fan.


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## blackrabbit (Jan 29, 2017)

scott1256ca said:


> Run the cooler on minimum temp. for a couple of days. See if the temp runs steady and what it runs at. Best to try this in a room where the temp varies night/day. Hopefully the cooler won't change internal temp when the external temp changes. After a couple of days sneak the temp control down a bit, and see if it actually drops. Give it a few hours and see. Then try again. See what you are up against, since it doesn't have a digital display. When you get it to where you want, i.e. 65 degrees or so??? then unplug, let it warm up and plug in again without adjusting the temp. You might find that it doesn't go back to where it was before you unplugged. If it does, good for you. If not, welcome to the club
> If I adjust the temp controller in mine just a tad, the temp doesn't seem to change. If I adjust a fair amount, it seems to change, but if I do that first part a couple of times, it doesn't seem to reset to where I left it.
> Provided I don't have a power failure, I'm fine. Even if I do, it doesn't screw up that much.
> Also, even though that isn't large, check humidity at the top and bottom when you get some stuff in there. Doesn't have to be cigars. In fact, maybe best it doesn't have cigars until you are comfortable with it. You might find you need a fan.


I have had it on for the past day or so in a room that the temperature varies and it seems to be working fine. It does have a digital display on the door. I have not tried the unplugging it, but power failures are very rare here as we have a local hydro-electric plant that runs steady, and even in the craziest storms I have been around for the power has been fine. I guess I will worry in the summer when I leave for trips. I will unplug it tonight and plug it back in tomorrow and see what happens.


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## blackrabbit (Jan 29, 2017)

Well the temperature holds great at what ever I set it at, but if the power goes out it rests the temperature to the low of 54 degrees. The humidity should hold with boveda packs in there. However, I think if it cooled quickly there might be a humidity spike before the bovedas absorbed it. What effects on cigars would happen if the temperature dropped that low for a day or more? Would the extra cooling just increase the risk of mold?


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## Bird-Dog (Oct 16, 2009)

blackrabbit said:


> Well the temperature holds great at what ever I set it at, but if the power goes out it rests the temperature to the low of 54 degrees. The humidity should hold with boveda packs in there. However, I think if it cooled quickly there might be a humidity spike before the bovedas absorbed it. What effects on cigars would happen if the temperature dropped that low for a day or more? Would the extra cooling just increase the risk of mold?


I think you're looking at it backwards. Cold is the enemy of mold, as is lower humidity. If anything, lower temps may cause a temporary drop in RH until the Bovedas make adjustments.

And the effect of temporary cooler temps on the cigars themselves should not be appreciable. I suppose it's possible for them to go into the same sort of shock similar to what sometimes happens in shipping; meaning they could need a bit of a rest afterwards. But I have my doubts with only about a 10F change. Storing them at cooler temps for the long term will theoretically slow down any aging process taking place while they're at the lower temps.


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## blackrabbit (Jan 29, 2017)

Thanks for the reply. I think it should work out OK then. If the power flickers out and worse comes to worse I will just have to dig into the less accessible cigars and smoke some of those while the winador ones rest.


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## scott1256ca (Jan 4, 2017)

> If anything, lower temps may cause a temporary drop in RH until the Bovedas make adjustments.


Would it? I would have thought just the opposite. Since RH is a function of temperature and absolute moisture content in the air, and since I expect temperature to adjust far more quickly than moisture content in the air. I mean if you suddenly start cooling the air in the wineador, that might take, say 1/2 hour to adjust to the new lower setting, but I would expect the humidity with boveda or beads to take much longer than that to readjust. I mean hours longer. So I would have said the RH would go up temporarily like blackrabbit thought, then slowly decrease to the RH of the boveda packs. OTOH, I would say the absolute humidity would slowly but immediately start to decrease to adjust to the new lower temperature and take hours to get to the new stable point.

So, if you caught the new temperature change within a couple of hours, and then reset it back to 65 deg. or whatever you keep your wineador at, I would think that the absolute humidity would have changed very little, especially in the cigars, and would recover to what it was before very quickly once the temperature was adjusted. Not that I'm suggesting trying it as an experiment, but I would think your cigars would be fine to start smoking after a couple of days.

But curmudgeonista has been doing this a long time and I have not.


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## blackrabbit (Jan 29, 2017)

I did some quick research and the google man says, "If the water vapor content stays the same and the temperature drops, the relative humidity increases. If the water vapor content stays the same and the temperature rises, the relative humiditydecreases. This is because colder air doesn't require as much moisture to become saturated as warmer air." Yeah, so it is what I thought. This is what creates dew at night when the temperature drops. The air holds less water at lower temps, so if the humidity gets too high water condenses out to form dew drops. This possibly could occur in the wineador ,but I think as long as I don't keep anything that can mold right on the bottom it will be OK. Also because my wineador is a small one I think this will be less of an issue than if it was a bigger model with more air space in it. Also as curmudgeonista says, "cold is the enemy of mold" which is true so the temporary higher humidity will be counteracted by the lower temperature so mold should not be a problem. Thanks for all the responses everyone. I appreciate it, and am avoiding major mistakes (like getting a wineador with a compressor) because of the friendly wise folks here.


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## Bird-Dog (Oct 16, 2009)

Okay, maybe I'm wrong.


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

curmudgeonista said:


> Okay, maybe I'm wrong.


I've been waiting for this ..But there's too much crap to read and I don't feel like reading it all to figure out what the hell you're wrong about..

DAMMIT!


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## blackrabbit (Jan 29, 2017)

You still know more about cigars than pretty much anyone, and your opinions are always appreciated.


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## Bird-Dog (Oct 16, 2009)

UBC03 said:


> I've been waiting for this ..But there's too much crap to read and I don't feel like reading it all to figure out what the hell you're wrong about..
> 
> DAMMIT!


Yeah, I meant to add _"Dino will be thrilled!"_

Just not something I obsess over, though... the topic or your desire to catch me saying something stupid. I do, however, obsess over finding ways of taking out revenge on younz what comes gunnin' for me! :vs_laugh:


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

curmudgeonista said:


> Yeah, I meant to add _"Dino will be thrilled!"_
> 
> Just not something I obsess over, though... the topic or your desire to catch me saying something stupid. I do, however, obsess over finding ways of taking out revenge on younz what comes gunnin' for me! :vs_laugh:
> 
> View attachment 107258


Bring it on my mustachioed friend..if you're gonna hit up every one of my screw ups, you're gonna be a busy little beaver.lol


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## matt.jensen (Jun 20, 2017)

*A bit more about Magic Chef*

Hi,

(Edit) offers great support compared to that from other brands.

Probably this is the best choice at mid-budget. The chiller has the capacity to store 28 bottles at sound temperature range.

The cooling system is thermoelectric which is very professional for low vibration & noise compared to the compressor based cooling system. The black door & cabinet adds an extra bit of sturdy appearance.

you can check the (edit) website for a greater review


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## Rondo (Sep 9, 2015)

Good morning, Spam.


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## bpegler (Mar 30, 2006)

Rondo said:


> Good morning, Spam.


It's a little spooky, I think. Some computer program found this old thread and linked it to a advertisement.

Big Brother is watching...


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

Such is the life of a Cigar Forum....opportunists will come and go and pretend to act like they are a part of things as Mr. Jenson shows up and acts like an Infomercial....his first post is not about intros and community but rather waltzing in with his agenda. Walk like a duck...quacks like a duck...makes the rest of us annoyed and looking to exact some Cigar Frontier Justice. Gonna close this one up since this was an old thread that stands on the info posted.


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